The National Trust is currently finishing off the renovation of Bransdale Mill as bunkhouse accommodation but the waterwheel and milling mechanism is badly in need of preservation to prevent further deterioration. The mill dates from the 18th-century and rebuilt in 1842 according to a datestone although a mill probably existed on the site since medieval times. The dilapidated wooden framework supports the cast iron cogs and flywheels and a pair of grinding stones. All very precarious. Oats would have been ground originally but corn or grist was last ground in 1953.
Bransdale Mill
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4 responses to “Bransdale Mill”
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Our mills need preserving. A mill without working machinery is just a building.
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Needs lots of £££s though.
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I worked as a volunteer at Bransdale in the 1970s.
A National Trust warden with overall responsibility for North Yorkshire was there, he claimed to have heard that Bransdale Mill was at some point “the only mill in Yorkshire capable of polishing pearl barley.”
It’s shocking to see the state of the machinery today, when it is “In the care of” the NT.
The mill was taken out of operation by a flash flood in the 1950s.
It’s a puzzle to try and work out where the mill leat left Hodge Beck. It looks like there must have been a dam, but there was no sign of one apart from a couple of dressed stones in the beck. If one existed it was destroyed by the flood.
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Thanks for sharing that info! I asked the current ranger about pearl barley, but he was stumped. I checked my notes too, but all I found was that barley was milled for animal feed. I’m pretty sure pearl barley is meant for people, though. On a different note, I found a reference to the last mill inhabitants leaving after a flood in 1947. Fascinating stuff!
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